O to the M to the F to the G. Tonight’s (Nov. 8) elimination episode of ‘X Factor‘ started off with a bang of the One Direction sort. The boys opened the show by performing their crazy-catchy smash ‘Live While We’re Young.’ We’ve been waiting (semi-impatiently, we’ll admit) for the lads to bring the song to prime time TV in America and oh, how they brought it.

The ladies in the audience shrieked so loud we almost couldn’t hear Harry Styles and the rest of his boys. Their squeals of glee nearly eclipsed the band. We said nearly.

Dressed in a black and red color palette — we loved Niall Horan’s red cardigan, Louis Tomlinson’s crisp white button down, Liam Payne’s all-black ensemble and the black blazers that style fiends Zayn Malik and Styles sported — the boys cranked the energy levels to 11. Red and white balloons cascaded to the stage as they performed. They also did their signature make-circles-with-their-arms dance move from the video! That’s about the moment our knees buckled.

We kept watching Niall to see if he and judge Demi Lovato were exchanging longing glances at one another. We bet the blond singer was doing his level best to try and impress her with his voice and his moves, too. He was probably the only member she watched during the perf. He and Demz can hang out after the show, too.

Since the boys shot to fame on the British edition of the show, it was only fitting that they paid a visit to the U.S. version. Simon Cowell, who assembled the band, watched them with a bit of an “I told ya so” smirk on his smug face. We can’t say we blame him. He knew what he was doing when he put these eliminated cuties together as a collective. You done good, Si Co.

We still scratch our heads and guffaw over the fact that they didn’t win their season. They competed against Cher Lloyd and she didn’t win, either! We know. We’re WTF’ing, too.

A video of Drew Brees, who is the “sixth” member of 1D in the Pepsi commercial version of the band, known as 1DB, played after their performance, where he expressed disappointment at not being there to perform with his boys. It was adorbs.

Before their second perf, producers showed a video package which included their first auditions! They were babies! Louis even had Bieber bangs.

1D then took the stage to perform their hushed, contemplative ballad ‘Little Things’ while seated and by pale light. Even during the quiet song, the shrieks and screams were prevalent. But that’s okay. The Directioners can’t help themselves, and 1D bring that out of ’em.

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